BURSTWelcome to The Hill's Changemakers: 24 of 2024. For the second year in a row, we're highlighting both the household names and lesser-known players who are making an impact at the Capitol and around the world. Whether you agree or disagree with them, these two dozen pathfinders are setting the pace and shaking things up in Washington.
White House and Administration
Donald Trump
Donald Trump this year dominated the Republican primary, was convicted on 34 felony counts in a hush money trial, survived an assassination attempt and essentially faced two opponents after Vice President Harris replaced President Biden atop the Democratic ticket.
Trump capped it off with a decisive victory in November’s election, becoming the second president ever to lose the White House and then come back to win it again, following Grover Cleveland.
Susie Wiles
Since the position of White House chief of staff was created under then-President Harry Truman, a woman has never filled the role.
Until now.
Susie Wiles, who co-led President-elect Trump’s successful campaign to return to the White House, is set to take on the job of chief of staff in the upcoming administration, cementing her status as a major power player not just in Florida politics, but in Washington.
Elise Stefanik
Rep. Elise Stefanik (N.Y.), nominee to represent the U.S. at the United Nations and the outgoing chair of the House Republican Conference, made waves a year ago that reverberated into 2024 when she grilled the presidents of Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Pennsylvania on their policies on free speech and antisemitism amid anti-Israel protests on campus.
The presidents would not directly answer Stefanik’s question on whether “calling for the genocide of Jews” violated their policies on harassment, and two of them resigned within weeks.
Lina Khan
If you’re not making someone angry, as the saying goes, you probably aren’t doing anything important.
And Lina Khan, who chairs the country’s antitrust agency, has angered a lot of people.
Since her confirmation as the youngest-ever chair of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in 2021, Khan has gone head-to-head with some of America’s most powerful companies, including Amazon, Microsoft, Lockheed Martin and Kroger.
Dara Lindenbaum
When Dara Lindenbaum became the newest Democratic commissioner on the Federal Election Commission (FEC), she knew she wanted to make a change.
The FEC for years faced accusations of partisan gridlock and dysfunction that hamstrung its ability to administer, clarify and enforce campaign finance laws — even as the money flowing into federal elections skyrocketed.
Congress
Angela Alsobrooks and Lisa Blunt Rochester
Democratic Sens.-elect Angela Alsobrooks (Md.) and Lisa Blunt Rochester (Del.) are set to make history come January as the first pair of Black women to serve alongside each other in the upper chamber.
The two soon-to-be senators both handily won their elections last month, replacing retiring Sens. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Tom Carper (D-Del.). But in the process, their wins took on extra meaning as they will each have a perch that most other incoming senators do not.
John Thune
Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) will take over as Senate majority leader in January, ending Sen. Chuck Schumer’s (D-N.Y.) four-year reign in the majority — and Sen. Mitch McConnell’s (Ky.) 18-year run as Senate Republican leader.
Thune pledged during his campaign for leader to give rank-and-file Republicans more opportunity to debate and amend legislation on the Senate floor and to hold more regular meetings to lay out his vision for the GOP conference.
Lisa Murkowski
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) has always been an important moderate Republican and crucial swing vote in the Senate, but her profile is rising further with the retirement of centrist Sens. Joe Manchin (I-W.Va.), Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) and Mitt Romney (R-Utah).
Murkowski was a key player in the passage of the biggest bipartisan accomplishments of President Biden’s time in office, such the $1 trillion infrastructure bill.
Mike Johnson
In the year since he skyrocketed to the Speakership, Mike Johnson (R-La.) has navigated seemingly endless headaches caused by warring factions within his own party.
“It is not like herding cats. It is like exotic animals — and half of them have rabies in Washington. It’s a very dangerous job,” Johnson said on the campaign trail in October.
James Lankford
Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) established himself this year as one of the leading bipartisan dealmakers in the Senate after reaching an agreement with Democratic colleagues and the White House on a border security reform bill.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) earlier this year hailed the deal Lankford crafted as a “huge success by any objective standard.” It won the endorsement of the National Border Patrol Council, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Wall Street Journal editorial board.
Jasmine Crockett
Rep. Jasmine Crockett rocked the boat this Congress — just her first term on Capitol Hill — and there’s no reason to think she won’t make more waves in the next.
The Texas Democrat has quickly emerged as among the most prominent of the Democrats’ young and rising stars, carving out a reputation as a fierce partisan pugilist ready to take on conservatives over some of the hottest topics being debated in the Capitol.
Sarah McBride
When Rep.-elect Sarah McBride (D-Del.) takes her oath of office in January, she will make history as the first openly transgender person to serve in Congress.
McBride is no stranger to trailblazing. In 2020, she became the nation’s first out trans state legislator, and before that, she made history as the first trans person to address a major party convention when she spoke at the Democratic National Convention in 2016.
Delia Ramirez
For Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.), immigrant rights are a personal issue, and she wants everyone — particularly Republicans — to feel the same way.
“When I’m able to make the connections between immigration and the economy, we bring people in. We, as Democrats, have not been able to do that, and I think this is part of a challenge in the work ahead for us,” she said.
Chuck Edwards
When Hurricane Helene hit parts of North Carolina in September, misinformation spread rampantly — in large part because prominent Republicans were parroting inaccurate talking points. Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-N.C.) made it his mission to stop those false facts from circulating.
“Me and my team were very much engaged in trying to get resources to western North Carolina, including those from FEMA [the Federal Emergency Management Agency],” Edwards told The Hill in an interview. “And we were inundated with calls and emails and texts from folks that, like me, really didn’t understand the role of FEMA, and I very quickly realized that the misinformation was getting in the way of us doing the job to help North Carolina get back on its feet.”
Media
Dana Bash
CNN anchor Dana Bash was part of several of the defining moments of the 2024 race for president.
The host of “Inside Politics” and longtime newscaster moderated the July debate between President Biden and President-elect Trump that led to Biden exiting the race.
Trey Yingst
Fox News reporter Trey Yingst has had a busy year covering some of the bloodiest overseas conflicts in recent memory.
Fox’s top foreign correspondent, Yingst has reported from Ukraine as Russia continues to wage war on the country and from Israel in the wake of last year’s attack by Hamas.
Katie Phang
It appears Katie Phang was made to weather a year that brought a perfect storm of legal and political news.
“If there was ever a time when having a strong legal background with actual trial experience had super relevancy, it would be now,” MSNBC’s “Katie Phang Show” host said.
Nichole Berlie
2024 was the hardest and most eye-opening year of Nichole Berlie’s life.
The NewsNation anchor and cancer survivor says her experience battling the disease gave her newfound empathy for the people she covers daily for the network.
“Knowing that cancer can be deadly, it puts a lot of things into perspective,” Berlie told The Hill. “I’ve always been an emotional person. Since the diagnosis, what I’ve learned is I’ve connected with people very deeply who have experienced loss.”
Activists and Nonprofit
Close Up Foundation
In a time of hyperpartisanship, one organization is more driven than ever to giving young people a close-up look at the way democracy works.
Close Up Foundation was created in 1971 with “the idea of trying to bring students from across the country, from across differences, together to learn about government, but also to learn about each other and try to better understand and respect each other’s points of view,” said Eric Adydan, the nonpartisan group’s CEO.
Shawn Fain
Following the highest inflation in more than four decades, 2023 and 2024 were years marked by a huge surge in labor activity across different industries. Teachers, writers, nurses, truck drivers, actors, longshoremen and other types of workers all joined picket lines seeking better pay and working arrangements in the face of rising prices.
No one was more aware of the unique economic moment than Shawn Fain, leader of the United Auto Workers (UAW), who not only helped to devise new tactics for his union’s own successful strike against Detroit’s three major automakers but also managed to get President Biden to join him on a picket line, making him the first sitting president in U.S. history to do so.
José Andrés
Despite juggling a full plate — humanitarian work, a portfolio of dining hotspots, weighing in on politics, penning books and launching an institute focused on food systems — José Andrés is still hungry to make a difference.
The acclaimed chef — who in 2010 founded World Central Kitchen, a nonprofit that provides meals to people in disaster areas and conflict zones — says he approaches life with a mantra: “What you wish for yourself, you must wish for others.”
Ella Milman
Ella Milman was undaunted: She would return her son from captivity in Russia.
“We just have to be patient, and optimistic,” she told ABC News in March 2024, a year after her son, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, was arrested and charged with collecting state secrets on behalf of the U.S. government. “Evan will be released.”
Sean O'Brien
International Brotherhood of Teamsters General President Sean O’Brien has had a wicked wild year.
He made history this summer as the first Teamsters head to speak at the Republican National Convention, a move that drew criticism from both sides of the aisle and other labor leaders who coalesced behind Democrats.